Title, Author and Reasons Why I Chose this Book
The title of this book is Ruthless and it was written by Sara Shepard who wrote this entire Pretty Little Liars series, The Lying Game series and other books. I chose this book because I deeply enjoyed the previous books in this series. When the book series was made into a television series, I got really into that which made me want to read the book series. I have never put the books down since and after I read one, I mope around miserably until the next one comes out. I can really and truly relate to the girls in the series and the storyline is so interesting and thrilling which makes this series and especially Ruthless a page-turner for me. Genre Ruthless falls into two different Genres: young adult fiction and mystery. Ruthless, along with all the other books in the Pretty Little Liars series, falls under the young adult genre. The story follows four teenage girls and their struggles escaping the wrath of an anonymous stalker and blackmailer. This storyline would mainly appeal to teenage girls because they could relate to it much easier than say a seventy-nine year old man or a forty-five year old woman. Ruthless is also a fiction book because these events that took place in the book did not actually occur. The author, Sara Shepard, grew up in a town similar to Rosewood, Pennsylvania so there is some reality behind it but the adventures did not actually occur and there is no city named Rosewood in Pennsylvania. Those characteristics make Ruthless a young adult fiction book. This book is also a mystery because throughout the book the girls are trying to figure out who their stalker and tormentor's true identity is. This has been the same mystery throughout the whole series as well. They have found out who some of the previous A's were but now they have a new A who's name has yet to be revealed. In Ruthless, the girls believe that A may be Kelsey, Spencer's roommate at the summer program at Penn State. There is a constant mystery haunting Ruthless which makes it one of the most riveting books that I have ever read.
Summary of the Plot
The book begins with a prologue about Spencer Hasting's (one of the main characters) scandal at the summer Program at Penn State. Spencer and her roommate Kelsey, were both taking several AP classes and knew that it was going to be extremely difficult to study for all of their classes so they bought some pills off of a guy named Phineas called Easy A. Phineas told them that the pill would help them stay awake and focus while cramming for their classes. The girls were reluctant at first, especially Kelsey, but they eventually gave in. Then both girls got busted by the police and were brought in for interrogation. When one of the police officers told Spencer that Kelsey was telling them everything and blaming it all on her, Spencer got nervous and called her friends, Aria, Emily and Hanna. The only one that responded to her plea was Hanna so Spencer told her to take some of the extra pills that she had given Hanna awhile ago and plant them somewhere obvious with Kelsey's belongings. Only after framing Kelsey did Spencer learn that the cop was lying to get Spencer to admit to the crime and that she had ruined Kelsey's future to save hers. The cops let Spencer go with a warning and Kelsey had to go to Juvie.
Then the actual book starts with Emily Field's (another one of the main characters) older sister Carolyn returning home and asking Emily to go out to a costume party with her. Emily agrees and there she meets a daring and adventurous girl named Kay who dares Emily to do many things and she would never typically do. Meanwhile, Spencer received a letter from the Princeton acceptance board saying that they made a mistake when they accepted her because there was another Spencer Hastings whom they confused her with and only one Spencer Hastings can make it in. This upsets Spencer because she though she had an assured spot at Princeton. After telling her father about her scandal with a photographer who took racy pictures of her and threatened to exploit unless she payed him 20,000 dollars which she stole from her father's campaign money, Hanna received a note from A saying, "What would Daddy say if he knew his new favorite daughter was a thief? -A". Then Aria Montgomery's (a main character of the book) boyfriend, Noel Kahn, broke up with her most likely because of the attractive foreign exchange student, Klaudia Huusko, whom was staying with him. Aria disliked Klaudia because she was attractive. Also, Klaudia lived in the same house as him and she admitted to Aria that she wanted to have Noel. So when Noel broke up with her, it was most certain that Klaudia had something to do with it. Then, almost ironically, in art history class, Aria was paired with Klaudia for a project. In despair, Aria texted her ex-boyfriend and former teacher, Ezra Fitz, asking for them to get together and talk. Later on that day, Hanna arrived at Hollis College, a nearby college in Rosewood, to attend a flash mob that she had set up to advertise her dad's campaign for senator of Pennsylvania. At the flash mob, she met a boy named Liam whom she connected with really well and she ended up kissing him even though she had only known him for about ten minutes. The next day Ezra comes to Aria's house and they picnicked together. That day Spencer receives a note from A, " Think your summer bestie forgives you for being such a pill? Somehow I doubt it ...Mwah! -A". That night, the four girls meet at the school playground to discuss the notes they had received from A, an anonymous stalker. It was at this meeting that Spencer comes to the possibility that Kelsey is A and when Spencer showed a picture of her to Emily, Emily recognizes her as being her daring and adventurous friend, Kay. After meeting with Liam once again, Hannah receives yet another note from A, "Hannakins: Before you two get too comfy, better ask to see his driver's license. -A". When they see each other's driver's license, they realize each other's identity. Liam is the son of Hannah's dad's rival for senator, Tucker Wilkinson. A couple of days later Hanna breaks up with him after she learns that he has been seeing other girls. In the heat of the moment, Hanna tells her dad every deep secret that Liam spilled to her about his father. A couple of days later, Kelsey or Kay takes Emily to Stockbridge trail where they go hiking. When Kelsey stepped away for a second to use the bathroom, someone pushed Emily down a hill and afterwards Emily receives a text message from A, "Sometimes we all need a little push, Emily. You and your friends know all about that, huh? -A". At the cast party on the night of the play Macbeth that Spencer starred in as Lady Macbeth, Spencer said some really mean and hurtful things to Emily which lead to Emily telling Kelsey about how Spencer planted the Easy A pills in her room. Then Aria shows up to the cast party and soon Ezra shows up. When people at the party see them together, strange looks befall their faces when they realize who he is. As soon as Aria tells him that the situation of them being in public with all of her classmates and his former colleagues was weird, he freaked out and stormed off. Aria realizes that she probably overreacted, she goes off to find him and when she did, she found him in a coat closet making out with Klaudia. Then Spencer receives a text from A, whom she automatically assumed was Kelsey, asking her to meet Spencer outside. When they meet Kelsey attacks her and Spencer wrings her neck when someone from the cast party heard the noises and discovered what looked like a crazed Spencer beating up on a vulnerable Kelsey. A crowd draws and suddenly Spencer's a freak. People help Kelsey to her feet and mouths the words "your dead" as she leaves and everyone leaves with her except her counterpart, Macbeth or Beau who ultimately left her as well. After the incident Emily finds Kelsey whom asks her to get into the car with her and go somewhere. Emily agrees but what happens next is left for you to find out.
Themes and Big Ideas
Some themes and big ideas throughout Ruthless, are friendship… Friendship is a big theme throughout the entire Pretty Little Liars series and in Ruthless as well. The four girls, Aria, Spencer, Emily and Hanna, were not as close of friends after the incident in the Bahamas over spring break but the girls have realized and learned that if A has done one good thing, it's bringing the girls close together and keeping their friendship alive. After their best friend, Ali, passed away, the girls shifted away from each other and did their own thing for a while but when an anonymous person began to send them notes the girls reunited and became friends again. At the end of the book, Spencer invites the girls over to relax in her hot tub which marked the first time that the girls had hung out in a while. The whole situation with Kelsey and A really stressed the girls out, yet it brought them together and rekindled their friendship. Another major idea of Ruthless is "Some secrets never die" which is written on the back of the book. This statement is referring to Spencer's scandal with the Easy A pills (which was exposed to her friends) and Hanna's scandalous relationship with the enemy, Liam Wilkinson (which Kate knew about). Throughout the book, any secrets that any of the Pretty Little Liars had were, in some way, exposed (mainly by A). This statement also could refer to the murder of Tabitha, a girl who the girls met in the Bahamas over spring break whom strongly resembled Ali. No one knew the truth behind the death of Tabitha except for A. This also makes that statement significant.
Characters There are four main protagonists in Ruthless: Emily Fields, Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin and Spencer HastingsThese four girls all live very different lifestyles but they are all connected through the relationship of one girl, Alison DiLaurentis, whose death has caused much speculation through their town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania. Emily Fields does not live the typical opulent lifestyle of an average Rosewood Day School girl. Emily is a dedicated swimmer on the Rosewood Day Swim Team and has a swimming scholarship to the University of North Carolina. "On a Wednesday evening in early March, Emily Fields lay on the carpet in her bedroom. Swimming medals and a big poster of Michael Phelps hung on the walls." She is 17 years old and the youngest of five children (two brothers and two sisters). Emily has chlorine damaged, strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes. She also has an athletic or swimmer's build which includes broad shoulders and muscular legs. Emily usually wears shirts that are swim related and jeans and she never removes the friendship bracelet that her deceased friend Ali (Alison DiLaurentis) gave her. *Emily also had been labeled the nickname "Killer" because of her overprotectiveness of mostly Ali but also her other friends Aria, Spencer and Hanna*. Emily is certain that she is homosexual because of her previous girlfriends and attraction to females. "A girlfriend. The chicken-silkscreened dish towel slipped from Emily's grasp. It always jolted her when one of her prim-and-proper family members mentioned Emily's sexual orientation." However, the summer prior to when this book took place, she was pregnant and had a baby by her ex-boyfriend, Isaac. Emily most likely misses Ali more than the other girls.
Emily Fields
Aria Montgomery could be described as a more carefree or expressive person and she is also not a typical preppy Rosewood girl. She loves poetry, literature, art and writing and has long black hair and a slender frame. She is also 17 and attends Rosewood Day with Spencer, Hanna and Emily but she spent her tenth grade year in Iceland with her family. Her parents also indulge in the laid-back lifestyle and they prefer that their kids (Aria and her brother Mike) call them by their first names, Ella and Byron. Aria's parents are divorced because Aria caught her dad and one of his students kissing. Her dad is now remarried and Aria has a little half-sister, Lola. Aria was in a relationship with her english teacher Ezra Fitz whom she met before she knew he was going to be her teacher. They both continued on the relationship even after realizing this. In the preceding book, Twisted, while in Jamaica, the girls came across a girl who they thought was Ali and when the girl put them in a threatening situation, Aria and her friends pushed her off a cliff. Although the four girls all had a part in the murder, it was Aria who pushed her.
Aria Montgomery
Hanna Marin is the most glamorous of the four girls and was still one of the most popular girls at Rosewood Day even after Ali died, but she wasn't always. Before Ali united the four girls whom had probably never spoken a word to each other before the sudden friendship, Hanna was a chubby loser. After Ali died however, Hanna and her ex-bestfriend, Mona Vanderwaal had a total transformation and have never looked back. Hanna has auburn hair which she gets blown out on a weekly bases at the salon at the King James Mall in Rosewood and she is also 17. She is now super skinny and wears only the best designer clothes. Her parents are divorced and her dad has remarried so now Hanna has a stepsister (Kate) and a stepmom (Isabel). Tom, Hanna's father, is running for senator of Pennsylvania which means that now Hanna is semi-famous. Hanna recently broke up with her boyfriend, Mike Montgomery, or Aria's brother.
Hanna Marin
Spencer Hastings can be described as your typical Rosewood girl. She lives in a big house, she wears nice and preppy clothing yet she is super smart, makes straight A's in all her classes and is the top of her class. Spencer also has a guarenteed acceptance into Princeton University, but A, an anonymous person who has been stalking the four girls, made her think that she had lost it. Spencer has dirty blonde hair and Emerald green eyes. She is an avid field hockey player, loves theater and just like her friends, she is 17. Spencer is best described as a perfectionist and she strives to be better than her sister, Melissa Hastings. Like Hanna and Aria, Spencer's parents are divorced and she now has a step-dad, (Nicholas Pennythistle) step-sister (Amelia Pennythistle) and step-brother (Zach Pennythistle). At a summer program at Penn the previous summer, Spencer and her roommate Kelsey Pierce were taking several high level and AP classes and it was hard for them to study for all of the information so they bought some pills called "Easy A" which helped them to cram for their tests. Then Spencer and Kelsey got caught by the police so Spencer had Hanna plant pills somewhere within her Kelsey's belonging because she thought that Kelsey was framing her. It turns out, Kelsey was not framing her so Spencer ended up framing Kelsey for no reason, securing her future and ruining Kelsey's.
Spencer Hastings
Major Conflict or Problem in the Story
The major conflict in Ruthless revolves around finding out the true identity of A which at the end of the book, was left unresolved. The four girls, Aria, Hanna, Spencer and Emily believed it was a girl known as Kelsey Pierce but they turned out to be wrong. They believed that Kelsey was A because she had a motive. Spencer believed that Kelsey knew that Spencer had someone to plant the drugs in her room. When in reality, she did not know. She also believed that Kelsey had saw the girls murder Tabitha because Spencer found a picture of Kelsey and Tabitha in the Bahamas together at the same time the four girls were there. So Spencer jumped to conclusions and automatically assumed that Kelsey and Tabitha were friends and had witnessed the girls murder Tabitha. Since Spencer thought that Kelsey knew that she framed her, the night that they arrested Kelsey, she saw Spencer's face and Kelsey put the pieces together and realized who Spencer was. Spencer also believed that Kelsey had plotted against them, pretending to be A and make their lives miserable. Throughout the book, Spencer was certain that Kelsey was out to get her but it was just paranoia which she probably developed sometime during her long misadventures with A. But in return, of course, Spencer had jumped to conclusions ruining another innocent girls' life (the first one being Tabitha) and none of these accusations were accurate. This was the major conflict and problem in the story.
Symbolic Image
Easy A Pill
For the symbolic image of Ruthless, I drew the Easy A pill. I thought that this was symbolic because this one single pill ruined one girl's life and saved another. When Spencer had Hanna plant these pills in Kelsey's room and the cops found it, it ruined Kelsey's life. No colleges would accept Kelsey after this incident which destroyed her future. Although Spencer thought she was doing what she had to, it was a truly selfish thing to do. This really proves how much damage one little thing can do. They never depicted the pill in the book so I designed it myself. The A I drew on the pill looks alike to A's signature in the book. I did this because I believe that in some sort of way, A was related to the pills. It never said anything about this in the book but I believe that not only did she name the pill Easy A because it would easily guarantee you an A, but that there is a connection between the stalker and the pills. All of the trouble that the pills put Spencer through sounds like something that A would be behind. Due to all of the side effects that the pills caused like weird behavior, the drug could have been something else entirely and A told Phineas, Spencer and Kelsey's supplier, to give it to them. Five New or Unusual Words Defunct- "The hallway walls were filled with an eclectic mix of handwoven tapestries, oil paintings, and metal signs advertising brands of cigarettes and long-defunct diners. Due to the context of the sentence, I believe that defunct is an adjective that describes something that has been closed down or no longer works.
Frazzled - "Kelsey turned and gave Emily a frazzled, almost puzzled look, as if she couldn't exactly place who Emily was." Using the context of the sentence I can infer that frazzled means tired and exhausted.
Rehash- "Spencer had invited them over to rehash what had happened with Kelsey." By the context of the sentence, rehash is a verb and I believe that in this sentence it means to talk about or discuss.
Surreptitiously - "Aria surreptitiously pulled out her phone and looked at her contacts list."
By the sentence that it was in, I believe that surreptitiously is an adverb that means quietly or secretly.
Duplicitous - " Kelsey wasn't a crazy, duplicitous stalker, as Spencer had implied. By the sentence that it was in, I believe that duplicitous is an adjective and means sly or two-faced.
Existing Works with Similar Qualities
In addition to being a fabulous book series, the Pretty Little Liars books have turned into a TV series. At first the television series followed the same storyline as the books but after a while the series developed its’ own new plotline. In my personal opinion, the books are much better the television series because the book characters are sharper and less boring than the TV characters and more action seems to happen in the books as well. On the television series Aria Montgomery is played by Lucy Hale, Spencer Hastings is played by Troian Bellisario, Hanna Marin is played by Ashley Benson and Emily Fields is played by Shay Mitchell. The actresses in the television series, however, do not fit their description in the book. The show plays on ABC family along with the series The Lying Game, also a book series that has turned into television show written by Sara Shepard. Ruthless, reminds me a little bit of the movie 21 Jump Street because in 21 Jump Street, a dangerous drug was going around the school that a lot of kids were taking. At one point of the movie, a boy overdosed on the drug just like Kelsey had at the end of the book. Kelsey survived, but the boy unfortunately did not. This drug, like Easy A, had bad side effects. There is only a small relation between 21 Jump Street and Ruthless but I felt as though they could be connected.
RUTHLESS
By Sara Shepard
Title, Author and Reasons Why I Chose this Book
The title of this book is Ruthless and it was written by Sara Shepard who wrote this entire Pretty Little Liars series, The Lying Game series and other books. I chose this book because I deeply enjoyed the previous books in this series. When the book series was made into a television series, I got really into that which made me want to read the book series. I have never put the books down since and after I read one, I mope around miserably until the next one comes out. I can really and truly relate to the girls in the series and the storyline is so interesting and thrilling which makes this series and especially Ruthless a page-turner for me.
Genre
Ruthless falls into two different Genres: young adult fiction and mystery. Ruthless, along with all the other books in the Pretty Little Liars series, falls under the young adult genre. The story follows four teenage girls and their struggles escaping the wrath of an anonymous stalker and blackmailer. This storyline would mainly appeal to teenage girls because they could relate to it much easier than say a seventy-nine year old man or a forty-five year old woman. Ruthless is also a fiction book because these events that took place in the book did not actually occur. The author, Sara Shepard, grew up in a town similar to Rosewood, Pennsylvania so there is some reality behind it but the adventures did not actually occur and there is no city named Rosewood in Pennsylvania. Those characteristics make Ruthless a young adult fiction book. This book is also a mystery because throughout the book the girls are trying to figure out who their stalker and tormentor's true identity is. This has been the same mystery throughout the whole series as well. They have found out who some of the previous A's were but now they have a new A who's name has yet to be revealed. In Ruthless, the girls believe that A may be Kelsey, Spencer's roommate at the summer program at Penn State. There is a constant mystery haunting Ruthless which makes it one of the most riveting books that I have ever read.
Summary of the Plot
The book begins with a prologue about Spencer Hasting's (one of the main characters) scandal at the summer Program at Penn State. Spencer and her roommate Kelsey, were both taking several AP classes and knew that it was going to be extremely difficult to study for all of their classes so they bought some pills off of a guy named Phineas called Easy A. Phineas told them that the pill would help them stay awake and focus while cramming for their classes. The girls were reluctant at first, especially Kelsey, but they eventually gave in. Then both girls got busted by the police and were brought in for interrogation. When one of the police officers told Spencer that Kelsey was telling them everything and blaming it all on her, Spencer got nervous and called her friends, Aria, Emily and Hanna. The only one that responded to her plea was Hanna so Spencer told her to take some of the extra pills that she had given Hanna awhile ago and plant them somewhere obvious with Kelsey's belongings. Only after framing Kelsey did Spencer learn that the cop was lying to get Spencer to admit to the crime and that she had ruined Kelsey's future to save hers. The cops let Spencer go with a warning and Kelsey had to go to Juvie.
Then the actual book starts with Emily Field's (another one of the main characters) older sister Carolyn returning home and asking Emily to go out to a costume party with her. Emily agrees and there she meets a daring and adventurous girl named Kay who dares Emily to do many things and she would never typically do. Meanwhile, Spencer received a letter from the Princeton acceptance board saying that they made a mistake when they accepted her because there was another Spencer Hastings whom they confused her with and only one Spencer Hastings can make it in. This upsets Spencer because she though she had an assured spot at Princeton. After telling her father about her scandal with a photographer who took racy pictures of her and threatened to exploit unless she payed him 20,000 dollars which she stole from her father's campaign money, Hanna received a note from A saying, "What would Daddy say if he knew his new favorite daughter was a thief? -A". Then Aria Montgomery's (a main character of the book) boyfriend, Noel Kahn, broke up with her most likely because of the attractive foreign exchange student, Klaudia Huusko, whom was staying with him. Aria disliked Klaudia because she was attractive. Also, Klaudia lived in the same house as him and she admitted to Aria that she wanted to have Noel. So when Noel broke up with her, it was most certain that Klaudia had something to do with it. Then, almost ironically, in art history class, Aria was paired with Klaudia for a project. In despair, Aria texted her ex-boyfriend and former teacher, Ezra Fitz, asking for them to get together and talk. Later on that day, Hanna arrived at Hollis College, a nearby college in Rosewood, to attend a flash mob that she had set up to advertise her dad's campaign for senator of Pennsylvania. At the flash mob, she met a boy named Liam whom she connected with really well and she ended up kissing him even though she had only known him for about ten minutes. The next day Ezra comes to Aria's house and they picnicked together. That day Spencer receives a note from A, " Think your summer bestie forgives you for being such a pill? Somehow I doubt it ...Mwah! -A". That night, the four girls meet at the school playground to discuss the notes they had received from A, an anonymous stalker. It was at this meeting that Spencer comes to the possibility that Kelsey is A and when Spencer showed a picture of her to Emily, Emily recognizes her as being her daring and adventurous friend, Kay. After meeting with Liam once again, Hannah receives yet another note from A, "Hannakins: Before you two get too comfy, better ask to see his driver's license. -A". When they see each other's driver's license, they realize each other's identity. Liam is the son of Hannah's dad's rival for senator, Tucker Wilkinson. A couple of days later Hanna breaks up with him after she learns that he has been seeing other girls. In the heat of the moment, Hanna tells her dad every deep secret that Liam spilled to her about his father. A couple of days later, Kelsey or Kay takes Emily to Stockbridge trail where they go hiking. When Kelsey stepped away for a second to use the bathroom, someone pushed Emily down a hill and afterwards Emily receives a text message from A, "Sometimes we all need a little push, Emily. You and your friends know all about that, huh? -A". At the cast party on the night of the play Macbeth that Spencer starred in as Lady Macbeth, Spencer said some really mean and hurtful things to Emily which lead to Emily telling Kelsey about how Spencer planted the Easy A pills in her room. Then Aria shows up to the cast party and soon Ezra shows up. When people at the party see them together, strange looks befall their faces when they realize who he is. As soon as Aria tells him that the situation of them being in public with all of her classmates and his former colleagues was weird, he freaked out and stormed off. Aria realizes that she probably overreacted, she goes off to find him and when she did, she found him in a coat closet making out with Klaudia. Then Spencer receives a text from A, whom she automatically assumed was Kelsey, asking her to meet Spencer outside. When they meet Kelsey attacks her and Spencer wrings her neck when someone from the cast party heard the noises and discovered what looked like a crazed Spencer beating up on a vulnerable Kelsey. A crowd draws and suddenly Spencer's a freak. People help Kelsey to her feet and mouths the words "your dead" as she leaves and everyone leaves with her except her counterpart, Macbeth or Beau who ultimately left her as well. After the incident Emily finds Kelsey whom asks her to get into the car with her and go somewhere. Emily agrees but what happens next is left for you to find out.
Themes and Big Ideas
Some themes and big ideas throughout Ruthless, are friendship… Friendship is a big theme throughout the entire Pretty Little Liars series and in Ruthless as well. The four girls, Aria, Spencer, Emily and Hanna, were not as close of friends after the incident in the Bahamas over spring break but the girls have realized and learned that if A has done one good thing, it's bringing the girls close together and keeping their friendship alive. After their best friend, Ali, passed away, the girls shifted away from each other and did their own thing for a while but when an anonymous person began to send them notes the girls reunited and became friends again. At the end of the book, Spencer invites the girls over to relax in her hot tub which marked the first time that the girls had hung out in a while. The whole situation with Kelsey and A really stressed the girls out, yet it brought them together and rekindled their friendship. Another major idea of Ruthless is "Some secrets never die" which is written on the back of the book. This statement is referring to Spencer's scandal with the Easy A pills (which was exposed to her friends) and Hanna's scandalous relationship with the enemy, Liam Wilkinson (which Kate knew about). Throughout the book, any secrets that any of the Pretty Little Liars had were, in some way, exposed (mainly by A). This statement also could refer to the murder of Tabitha, a girl who the girls met in the Bahamas over spring break whom strongly resembled Ali. No one knew the truth behind the death of Tabitha except for A. This also makes that statement significant.
Characters
There are four main protagonists in Ruthless: Emily Fields, Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin and Spencer HastingsThese four girls all live very different lifestyles but they are all connected through the relationship of one girl, Alison DiLaurentis, whose death has caused much speculation through their town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania.
Emily Fields does not live the typical opulent lifestyle of an average Rosewood Day School girl. Emily is a dedicated swimmer on the Rosewood Day Swim Team and has a swimming scholarship to the University of North Carolina. "On a Wednesday evening in early March, Emily Fields lay on the carpet in her bedroom. Swimming medals and a big poster of Michael Phelps hung on the walls." She is 17 years old and the youngest of five children (two brothers and two sisters). Emily has chlorine damaged, strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes. She also has an athletic or swimmer's build which includes broad shoulders and muscular legs. Emily usually wears shirts that are swim related and jeans and she never removes the friendship bracelet that her deceased friend Ali (Alison DiLaurentis) gave her. *Emily also had been labeled the nickname "Killer" because of her overprotectiveness of mostly Ali but also her other friends Aria, Spencer and Hanna*. Emily is certain that she is homosexual because of her previous girlfriends and attraction to females. "A girlfriend. The chicken-silkscreened dish towel slipped from Emily's grasp. It always jolted her when one of her prim-and-proper family members mentioned Emily's sexual orientation." However, the summer prior to when this book took place, she was pregnant and had a baby by her ex-boyfriend, Isaac. Emily most likely misses Ali more than the other girls.
Aria Montgomery could be described as a more carefree or expressive person and she is also not a typical preppy Rosewood girl. She loves poetry, literature, art and writing and has long black hair and a slender frame. She is also 17 and attends Rosewood Day with Spencer, Hanna and Emily but she spent her tenth grade year in Iceland with her family. Her parents also indulge in the laid-back lifestyle and they prefer that their kids (Aria and her brother Mike) call them by their first names, Ella and Byron. Aria's parents are divorced because Aria caught her dad and one of his students kissing. Her dad is now remarried and Aria has a little half-sister, Lola. Aria was in a relationship with her english teacher Ezra Fitz whom she met before she knew he was going to be her teacher. They both continued on the relationship even after realizing this. In the preceding book, Twisted, while in Jamaica, the girls came across a girl who they thought was Ali and when the girl put them in a threatening situation, Aria and her friends pushed her off a cliff. Although the four girls all had a part in the murder, it was Aria who pushed her.
Hanna Marin is the most glamorous of the four girls and was still one of the most popular girls at Rosewood Day even after Ali died, but she wasn't always. Before Ali united the four girls whom had probably never spoken a word to each other before the sudden friendship, Hanna was a chubby loser. After Ali died however, Hanna and her ex-bestfriend, Mona Vanderwaal had a total transformation and have never looked back. Hanna has auburn hair which she gets blown out on a weekly bases at the salon at the King James Mall in Rosewood and she is also 17. She is now super skinny and wears only the best designer clothes. Her parents are divorced and her dad has remarried so now Hanna has a stepsister (Kate) and a stepmom (Isabel). Tom, Hanna's father, is running for senator of Pennsylvania which means that now Hanna is semi-famous. Hanna recently broke up with her boyfriend, Mike Montgomery, or Aria's brother.
Spencer Hastings can be described as your typical Rosewood girl. She lives in a big house, she wears nice and preppy clothing yet she is super smart, makes straight A's in all her classes and is the top of her class. Spencer also has a guarenteed acceptance into Princeton University, but A, an anonymous person who has been stalking the four girls, made her think that she had lost it. Spencer has dirty blonde hair and Emerald green eyes. She is an avid field hockey player, loves theater and just like her friends, she is 17. Spencer is best described as a perfectionist and she strives to be better than her sister, Melissa Hastings. Like Hanna and Aria, Spencer's parents are divorced and she now has a step-dad, (Nicholas Pennythistle) step-sister (Amelia Pennythistle) and step-brother (Zach Pennythistle). At a summer program at Penn the previous summer, Spencer and her roommate Kelsey Pierce were taking several high level and AP classes and it was hard for them to study for all of the information so they bought some pills called "Easy A" which helped them to cram for their tests. Then Spencer and Kelsey got caught by the police so Spencer had Hanna plant pills somewhere within her Kelsey's belonging because she thought that Kelsey was framing her. It turns out, Kelsey was not framing her so Spencer ended up framing Kelsey for no reason, securing her future and ruining Kelsey's.
Major Conflict or Problem in the Story
The major conflict in Ruthless revolves around finding out the true identity of A which at the end of the book, was left unresolved. The four girls, Aria, Hanna, Spencer and Emily believed it was a girl known as Kelsey Pierce but they turned out to be wrong. They believed that Kelsey was A because she had a motive. Spencer believed that Kelsey knew that Spencer had someone to plant the drugs in her room. When in reality, she did not know. She also believed that Kelsey had saw the girls murder Tabitha because Spencer found a picture of Kelsey and Tabitha in the Bahamas together at the same time the four girls were there. So Spencer jumped to conclusions and automatically assumed that Kelsey and Tabitha were friends and had witnessed the girls murder Tabitha. Since Spencer thought that Kelsey knew that she framed her, the night that they arrested Kelsey, she saw Spencer's face and Kelsey put the pieces together and realized who Spencer was. Spencer also believed that Kelsey had plotted against them, pretending to be A and make their lives miserable. Throughout the book, Spencer was certain that Kelsey was out to get her but it was just paranoia which she probably developed sometime during her long misadventures with A. But in return, of course, Spencer had jumped to conclusions ruining another innocent girls' life (the first one being Tabitha) and none of these accusations were accurate. This was the major conflict and problem in the story.
Symbolic Image
Five New or Unusual Words
Defunct - "The hallway walls were filled with an eclectic mix of handwoven tapestries, oil paintings, and metal signs advertising brands of cigarettes and long-defunct diners. Due to the context of the sentence, I believe that defunct is an adjective that describes something that has been closed down or no longer works.
Frazzled - "Kelsey turned and gave Emily a frazzled, almost puzzled look, as if she couldn't exactly place who Emily was." Using the context of the sentence I can infer that frazzled means tired and exhausted.
Rehash - "Spencer had invited them over to rehash what had happened with Kelsey." By the context of the sentence, rehash is a verb and I believe that in this sentence it means to talk about or discuss.
Surreptitiously - "Aria surreptitiously pulled out her phone and looked at her contacts list."
By the sentence that it was in, I believe that surreptitiously is an adverb that means quietly or secretly.
Duplicitous - " Kelsey wasn't a crazy, duplicitous stalker, as Spencer had implied. By the sentence that it was in, I believe that duplicitous is an adjective and means sly or two-faced.
Existing Works with Similar Qualities
In addition to being a fabulous book series, the Pretty Little Liars books have turned into a TV series. At first the television series followed the same storyline as the books but after a while the series developed its’ own new plotline. In my personal opinion, the books are much better the television series because the book characters are sharper and less boring than the TV characters and more action seems to happen in the books as well. On the television series Aria Montgomery is played by Lucy Hale, Spencer Hastings is played by Troian Bellisario, Hanna Marin is played by Ashley Benson and Emily Fields is played by Shay Mitchell. The actresses in the television series, however, do not fit their description in the book. The show plays on ABC family along with the series The Lying Game, also a book series that has turned into television show written by Sara Shepard. Ruthless, reminds me a little bit of the movie 21 Jump Street because in 21 Jump Street, a dangerous drug was going around the school that a lot of kids were taking. At one point of the movie, a boy overdosed on the drug just like Kelsey had at the end of the book. Kelsey survived, but the boy unfortunately did not. This drug, like Easy A, had bad side effects. There is only a small relation between 21 Jump Street and Ruthless but I felt as though they could be connected.
Link to Goodreads Review
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/430571574
Quarter 2 Book Project